La Sombrero de Paja
by scott194
Summary: The Quinta Espada 5 , Monkey D. Luffy, and his fraccion crew are going to fight the Soul Society. Having fun, going on adventures, the usual day for the Straw Hats, I mean the Quinta Espada and his fraccions. takes place after the Bount arc
1. Chapter 1

**El Sombrero de Paja**

In the confines of the castle, Las Noches, Sousuke Aizen sits atop his throne to meet with one of his Espadas. His current Quinto (fifth) just came back from an assignment to find more Vasto Lordes or powerful Hollows to recruit but all he did was blatantly fought and crush all of them. The Quinto Espada walked into the chamber in front of Aizen and his two right hand men, Tosen and Gin. The Espada on trial was a young man that appeared to look seventeen or eighteen and had a scar under his left eye. The remains of his Hollow mask were two tiny horns and the middle segment of a jawbone under his chin and his hollow hole on his chest. The most distinctive feature of this man was a straw hat he was wearing and his not-so-standard Arrancar uniform of white shorts, which covered all the way down below his knees, a simple white vest, and beach sandals. Finally, a tattoo of the number five can be seen on the bicep of his left arm.

"Welcome back, Monkey D. Luffy," Aizen said in a calming, lilting voice, "I suppose the trip was entertaining for you?"

The Quinto Espada, Monkey D. Luffy, just smiled and looked up. "It killed some time I guess," said Luffy.

Tosen was obviously furious when he told-off Luffy. "Concerning your mission, Luffy, you were completely out of line," Tosen yelled. "Your actions were clearly unnecessary and brought too much attention."

"Oh what's the big deal," Luffy calmly said, "There wasn't anyone strong enough so I just kicked their asses."

"You need to be aware that brute force isn't always necessary. The Soul Society has certain parts of Hueco Mundo under its surveillance. Flashy action such as destroying an entire colony of Menos garners unwanted attention and could compromise our operation," Tosen tried to explain.

"If that's all then I'm out of here," Luffy said. Turning around Luffy waved at Tosen, "I'm getting hungry, so see ya."

"Wait! We're not done here."

"You keep saying that you don't want to garner any attention," mentioned Luffy, "But you've already been outed in the Soul Society and they know what you're doing, so who cares?"

"That is not the point, the point is—" Tosen was cut off as Luffy started to walk away, "HEY! I'm not finished here!"

Aizen decided to interrupt Tosen's rant in his usual tone, "Luffy, do remember the gathering of the Espadas later on."

Luffy merely responded with a wave as he left the room, leaving the three shinigamis by themselves. Gin wished to break the momentary silence, "A very odd arrancar among our ranks isn't he? He actually brings a little light on this morbid place."

Tosen turned towards Aizen with nothing but frustration on his face over the lack of discipline, "Lord Aizen, if I may ask, why you must insist on having such an unruly, undisciplined rogue element among the highest seats of your subordinates? Luffy is clearly too unreliable to be given the rank of Espada."

"True," Aizen said, "Luffy is a bit hard to predict, but his skills are undeniable. Maybe you haven't noticed because you were concentrating on Luffy, but I was directing my spiritual pressure at him with a malicious killing intent."

Tosen was struck silent at this news while Aizen continued, "Luffy took the full force of my aura and shrugged it off as if it were nothing more than a nuisance while still holding up his guard. Monkey D. Luffy is a powerful asset to our cause, uncontrollable though he may be, and he garners such loyalty from his Fraccion that some of them even refuse to obey me sometimes. Of all the Espada, he is possibly the most essential."

_Elsewhere_

Luffy just entered his chamber to meet with the rest of his Fraccion, or as he calls them, his "crew". There was his most powerful Fraccion, Roronoa Zoro, who wore standard arrancar uniform pants but had a t-shirt instead of a coat and a sash around his waist. The remains of his hollow mask is a plate that goes over his brow and over the head. On his sash were three swords of different patterns. Sitting across from him were Sanji and Ussop. Sanji was a blonde man with a mask fragment that looked like a swirl coming from his eye brow; a tanto can be seen in his unusual arrancar attire of a pure white, full piece suit. Ussop had the largest mask fragment out his crew, which composed of a helmet with a beetle-like horn coming out the left side of his helmet and having an eye piece on the same side as the horn and he had an unusually long nose that wasn't a mask fragment. The zanpakuto he carried was a standard sword with a western guard that had two pronged curves on either side.

Further back was Nami, a woman arrancar with bright orange hair and a skimpy uniform of a mini-skirt and white jacket and a tiny mask fragment that goes around the edge of her eye. She was tending to a giant goat Hollow, feeding it and brushing its coat, while another female member tended to an even bigger lion Hollow. Robin had no visible mask fragment and dressed in a more modest style than her female comrade with western pants and a form fitting coat. Brook, a full on skeleton arrancar with a white formal suit complete with top hat and sporting an afro, and Franky, a huge man with big forearms and wispy hair, were playing with cards while Chopper, a miniature deer-looking arrancar, mixed some chemicals.

"Hey guys!" Luffy yelled, "I'm back!"

"Hey Luffy, did you get chewed out by Tosen again?" Zoro said while chuckling.

"Yeah, some crap about gardening too much attention or something."

Sanji corrected Luffy's obvious mistake with "I think you mean _garnering_."

"How many of you are picturing that little vein on Tosen's head?" Ussop laughed. "I can just see him turning completely red! HAHAHAHAAHAH!"

"Oh come on, lay off," Franky interjected, "Tosen's just on his menstrual cycles," to this the entire crew burst out in laughter.

Throughout the rest of the break Luffy and his crew made fun of Tosen. Afterwards they wondered what it would be like to fight the Soul Society and that Ichigo Kurosaki that Aizen started talking about since he came back to Las Noches with that Hogyoku. Then came the time for the gathering of the Espadas as Luffy left to attend it.

The rest of the crew wanted to see Luffy off until the chamber where only the Espada, Aizen, and Tosen and Gin were allowed. Before the doorway were other arrancars such as Aaroniero Arruruerie, and the current fourth, Ulquiorra. "I see you have finally returned, Luffy," Ulquiorra said.

"Ul-chan, long time, no see," Luffy cheerfully greeted. "You still have that same long look on your face."

"And from what I hear, you've been causing trouble again," Ulquiorra informed with his usual, calm tone. "Do keep in mind that you work for Lord Aizen and you must follow his orders."

"We did follow his orders, those colonies just didn't want to listen. You can't blame me if they want to start a fight."

This time it was Sanji who spoke, "Most hollows don't take the prospect of following orders from a shinigami to… uh… favorable."

"Be that as it may, you should have carried out your actions with utmost discrepancy and with Lord Aizen's best interests," Ulquiorra lectured. Aaroniero remained silent the entire time.

"What does it matter anyway? Aizen doesn't give a two-shilling shit about any of that!" said a shrill voice from behind Luffy.

Luffy turned around to see a very tall, slim man with an overblown, spoon-like hood. "Pfft-Nnoitra?" Luffy laughed, "What the hell is with that getup?"

"I'm guessing he lost a bet," chuckled Nami.

"Is that anyway to speak to your superiors? You goddamn trash!" Nnoitra said.

"_My apologies_, Octava Espada, sir," Nami responded with sarcasm.

"That's Sexta Espada now, bitch!" Nnoitra yelled, proceeding to show them the tattoo on his tongue. "I've been moving on up while you were away."

"Really?" asked Zoro, "Does that come with a new, fancy company vehicle and everything?"

"You insolent-" Nnoitra started to lunge at Zoro with his hands as Zoro dodged. The fight was finally stopped when Luffy grabbed Nnoitra's wrist.

"Where do you get off trying to hurt my crew?" Luffy said with a threatening tone. Luffy tossed aside Nnoitra's hand when a tan woman walked by. She was wear a revealing uniform that showed her midriff and bottom portion of her breasts and had bright, blonde hair.

"Enough," the woman said, "Is that any way for Espadas to act?"

Luffy just looked at her with a confused look, "Maybe not, but who are you?"

"WOW!" Sanji yelled, "I like your sense of style ma'am! Please tell me you're actually sent from heaven specifically for me!"

"I guess you haven't heard," the woman said, "I'm the new Tres Espada, Tia Harribel."

"Tres Espada?" Luffy repeated, "Where's Nel-chan?"

"She met with an unfortunate incident," Nnoitra hissed, "I beat her and expelled her from Las Noches. You won't be seeing her or her pathetic fraccion trash."

Luffy grabbed on to Nnoitra's collar, "You've got some nerve! Nel-chan was a good friend and a comrade. How could you just attack her in cold blood!?"

"You despicable enemy of women," Sanji said with fire in his eyes, "I'll personally make you pay for what you did to Nelliel-sama."

Luffy and his fraccion were prepared to fight as Nnoitra took out his scythe of a zanpakuto. Ulquiorra, Aaroniero, and Harribel were sucked into their Mexican stand-off when Aizen and his subordinates came into the hallway. Aaroniero was the one to break the silence, "_I think this has gone on long enough_," Aaroniero said in a high-pitched voice, "**What's done is done Quinta Espada, if you wish to lay blame, blame Neliel for not being strong enough**," Aaroniero said in a deeper voice.

"Thank you, Aaroniero," Aizen said, he then motioned to the chamber where the Espada are to meet. "If we could please begin the meeting, we have much to discuss in light of what's happening to the Soul Society."

Nnoitra put away his zanpakuto while Luffy's fraccion did the same. The rest of the Espada showed up shortly afterwords. Luffy had been gone a long time since the Espada ranks have been changed. Luffy and his fraccion have always been on good terms with the friendly Nelliel Tu Oderschwanck and her fraccion. While not exactly on the most endearing terms, Ulquiorra saw Luffy as someone to cooperate with while Luffy treated as a comrade. Starrk was an easygoing guy who Luffy got along with and Barragon always belittled him. Then there was Nnoitra who always seemed to grind Luffy's gears and Grimmjow whom he always got into fights with. The rest were never really interested in Luffy and didn't interact with him.

Nnoitra turned to Luffy's fraccion, "You know the rules: No non-Espada trash allowed," which he then followed with a taunting cackle.

"I'm going to have to say he's right," said Gin Ichimaru, "This is a meeting for the Espada."

"You guys wait here, I'll be back," Luffy waved to them as he entered the chamber.

The chamber doors closed with all the Espada, Gin, Tosen, and Aizen, leaving the fraccion outside the chamber. A few of Luffy's crew decide to go back while the rest stayed until Sanji noticed three gorgeous woman arrancars standing nearby. Sanji instantly ran toward them in his usual manner.

"HELLOOOOO LADIES!!" Sanji screamed, "I suppose you heard of me, the great Sanji, and couldn't resist the urge to see me. Now, now, I'm sure we can work out a schedule for all of you. It's a burden to be this handsome, but I must oblige all the maidens so as not to break their hearts."

"Who the hell is this whack-job," said one of the female arrancars. The girl had short hair, a fragment with a horn was on top of her head and had two different colored eyes with a red outline on the left eye.

"Obviously, he's the only man who would be willing to date you Apache," said the dark skinned, muscular one.

"Shut up, Mila Rose!" said Apache.

"Apache, Mila Rose, such beautiful names for feisty beauties," Sanji, still entranced, said. "And who might you be, my lovely."

"My name is Sun-Sun," answered the "lovely", who had long, straight, hair and long sleeves that reached her knees. "And I would appreciate it if you would reframe from hitting on me, it's so unprofessional."

"I'm sorry, but it's too hard to resist the primordial instinct of-_gah_!" Sanji was interrupted by Zoro who promptly smacked him in the face before he could embarrass himself even more.

"Excuse my friend," said Zoro, "He's an idiot."

"HEY YOU JACKASS! WHA'DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Sanji yelled

"Obviously being more of a man than you," said Mila Rose with a small smirk.

"You have got to be-" Sanji began, "I can be a jackass like him!"

Sanji proceeded to mess up his hair and do a poor imitation of Zoro. "Look at me, I'm a green-hair idiot with no sense of grace or etiquette whatsoever. I don't feel secure enough with just one zanpakutou so I split my form into three swords and that's supposed to make me look badass." Zoro proceeded to beat Sanji up who retaliated while the three females looked on with disdain.

_In the chamber…_

All the Espadas were in their seats while Aizen sat down at the end with the other two shinigamis at each side. Luffy was looking a little confused at some of the people at the table as the Espada line-up has definitely changed. The tea was passed around as Aizen began the briefing for the evening.

"Now that everyone is here and has their refreshments let us begin the meeting," Aizen said in his soothing tone. "First, let say welcome back to Luffy. No doubt you have noticed the change in the line-up, so let me introduce you. You have already met Tia Harribel, the new Tercera Espada, and you know that Nnoitra and Grimmjow have been promoted to the sixth and seventh respectively."

"Yeah, alright," responded Luffy in a bored tone.

Aizen continued his introduction, "Next is the new Octava Espada, Szayel Aporro Grantz, you know him as the head of research, and the reinstated Aaronierro as the Novena Espada."

"I was wondering why those guys were following us," Luffy responded.

The new line-up was sitting accordingly, with Ulquiorra sitting next to Aizen to his left, with Starrk next to Ulquiorra, then Luffy with Harribel next to him, at the other end were Aaronierro and Yammy Riyalgo, currently the tenth Espada, afterwards was Barragon Luisenbarn, Szayel, Grimmjow and finally Nnoitra.

"Now on to business," said Aizen, "Gin, start us off."

"Right," Gin responded and a surveillance hologram appeared in the middle of the table depicting the Seireitei. "As some of you may know, the Soul Society is still in the process of rebuilding after our defection. To compound on that the Soul Society was under attack by the Bount, making it even more difficult to recuperate their losses."

"With this, there will be an even longer delay in any form of interference the 13 Court Guard Squads can possibly pose," said Tosen.

"How long until we can go on the offensive," Grimmjow asked.

"Hogyoku is currently in a dormant state," Gin replied, "It'll take awhile until we can fully utilize the Hogyoku."

"Not necessarily Gin," Aizen interrupted, "I have been able to bypass that small inconvenience and can use it to create more arrancars, though with limitations."

"So what exactly are we waiting for?" Luffy asked.

"I'm interested in Ichigo Kurosaki's growth," Aizen said with a grin. "Our offensive will come soon. In fact, everything is falling into place very nicely. Just indulge my curiosities a little longer and you'll get some action."

Luffy was trembling with excitement over the thought of fighting some strong opponents. He has been hearing talk about the Soul Society and its 13 Court Guard Squads and has been dying of anticipation to fight them.

The meeting ended fairly quickly as it was only a routine update and a debriefing for Luffy and the new Espadas. The chamber doors opened and all the Espadas stepped out to retire for the night. Or just to rest as there is no actual "night" in Hueco Mundo. Luffy wanted to talk to Aizen for a bit, so after he broke up the fight between Sanji and Zoro he proceeded to walk towards Aizen. "You seem prepared with spare Espadas should anything happen to the line-up."

"Preparation is essential to strategy," Aizen said. "I recall you having a good relationship with Neliel. But what's done is done, I have plans to make and it isn't my fault what happens internally with the Espadas."

Luffy said nothing more and returned to his corridor with Sanji and Zoro. The entire gang was there and Luffy decided to grab their attention. Everyone, including the giant goat and lion, were listening.

"Guys," Luffy began, "Aizen says that it's almost time for the big fight with the Soul Society."

To this, Zoro began to grin as he, along with Sanji and Franky were anticipating the day they would fight the Soul Society. Nami on the other hand was dreading the day that it would come. Nami nervous asked "When does he plan to start everything?"

Ussop threw out his chest and said vehemently "W-Well, you can always count on me Luffy," Ussop said, "I'm just itching to fight those guys."

"Is that why your legs are trembling?" Sanji asked. True to those words, Ussop's legs were shaking badly, but to the contrary, Ussop was feeling fear.

"Shut-up!"

"Well however long Aizen intends to wait until we go on the attack, we won't wait that long," Luffy said. He turned around to show the we're-going-on-an-adventure-look. "We're going to fight them anyway."

Everyone knew that when their captain had that look on his face they couldn't change his mind. So they just had to grin and bear it, they were going to the Soul Society no matter what.

"Get Merry and Sunny ready," Luffy ordered. "We're headin' out."

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note:

Thank you for all the reviews. A little note before I start on the next chapter, I know I said this takes place after the Bount arc but I'm having trouble having that fit into the story. So I'm going to do the normal Bleach filler technique where the story splits off into a completely separate story for no apparent reason. Sorry, I tried to insert it gracefully into the Bleach continuity but I think it'll be more interesting this way.

Keep reviewing, I feed off of it. [rubbing hands maniacally with evil grin]

By the way, for those of you who didn't look it up, the title is "straw hat" in Spanish.

**La Sombrero de Paja**

Chapter 2

Luffy and the gang were preparing to leave for the Soul Society. They could use the Garganta, and Luffy was about to open one up until Zoro stopped him. Aizen had all the Garganta routes under surveillance, if anybody found out they left Hueco Mundo Aizen would surely send someone to stop them. So they had to rely on Sunny and Merry, who had the power to travel between dimensions through their own powers. But first they had to get to a secret location.

Zoro plotted out a course on a map. "We can go through this route, it'll be deserted by this time and it's the quickest route to the outside of Las Noches."

So they decided to go as a group towards the outside of Las Noches. On the way they had to pass through a gathering hall where they saw a mummified body in a glass case.

"What the hell is that?" Nami asked.

"Oh, that was something that was talked about during the last meeting," Luffy said. "That's one of Aizen's experiments with the Hogyoku. I think he said something about using that arrancar for something."

"How unfortunate," Chopper said, examining the body, "There is a definite fluctuation of spiritual pressure. There's also some form of foreign bacteria manipulating the natural anatomy of this menos."

Everyone was puzzled at Chopper's analysis and tried to sense the anomalies as well. "What's going to happen to him?" Robin asked.

Chopper further examined the body, "It's almost as if Aizen is having this Hollow completely dismantled and reconstructed to his own specifications."

"That's so depraved it makes my skin crawl!" Brook began. "Of course, being a skeleton, I have no skin!"

Ussop immediately slapped Brook behind his head, "Remember what I told you about the skeleton jokes?"

The gang continued on to the outside walls, being careful not to run into anyone. If Ulquiorra found out where they were going he would definitely rat Luffy out to Aizen. Good news was that they didn't run into Ulquiorra anywhere, but unfortunately they did come across Gin across the hall. They were so close to getting out of Las Noches that the gate was right there to their left.

"Well hello there," Gin cheerfully said, "And where is the entire gang going right now?"

Nami just started to stutter in place, "W-W-We… uuhhm… need to… err."

"We are… going to…" Sanji tried to explain but he was drawing a blank as well. "We are… taking Ussop for his thing today, right Ussop?"

Ussop was making an infuriated face at him, "Yes. I'm… going—" Ussop was frantically looking around the room for something to help him. "Uhm… _hunting_!"

"Hunting?" Gin repeated.

"Yes, I just got my hunting license today and it's mandatory that we hunt," Ussop explained trying to lie as best he can. "Ya know, because it's a hunting license and we have to use it."

"Really?" Gin asked slowly with a quizzical look. "And I suppose you're hunting for something in particular."

Luffy instantly responded with "Yeah we're looking for the shinigami's to fight them—" Luffy was then instantly hit over the head to shut him up. Luckily he got the idea and responded back. "I mean, we are just hunting. Nothing suspicious about that and we are definitely not going over Aizen's head and going to the Soul Society for some fun in fighting the shinigami's," Luffy said in a monotone voice.

Everyone instantly thought "_Idiot_", as their Espada leader was not helping the situation. Nami and Zoro were starting to panic slightly as they both thought the same thoughts. "He's never going buy this crap now."

"Ok," Gin finally said, "Have fun."

Gin left the fifth Espada and his group with a dumbfound expression on their faces. "I can't believe we got away with that piece of crap." Franky said. Everyone agreed that they wanted to take the opportunity to leave and went through the gates. Gin looked from around the corner and laughed a little with Aizen right next to him.

"I can't believe they thought they could outsmart anyone," Gin said. "Aren't you going to do anything to stop them?"

"There's no need, let them have fun," Aizen responded.

_Meanwhile outside…_

The Quinta Espada and his fraccion were readying for their "undetected" departure. Sunny and Merry were just Gillian classes, but they were exceptionally powerful for their status. What also set them apart from other Gillian classes was their ability to rip open their own rifts into other dimensions, including the Soul Society. They ripped open the dimension and they leapt through to the Soul Socitey.

_The Soul Society_

An alarm was sounding as they sensed the sources of high spiritual pressure. In the Research Division, Captain Kurotsuchi and his lieutenant, Nemu, entered the room. The monitoring devices lit up what was a dim room. The equipment was picking up signals from eleven sources, and Kurotsuchi was getting curious.

"What are the read-outs on these intruders," Mayuri demanded.

One of the researchers was beginning to panic, "We have eleven confirmed ryokas entering Soul Society dimensional space. I'm getting abnormally strong levels of spiritual pressure! Three—four—At least five of them are of Espada class while the rest are of exceptionally high spiritual pressure!"

To this, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi smiled, "How exciting, finally I have the chance gather some Espadas as samples! Plot out their course and keep an eye on the most powerful one. I want those samples!"

The entire Soul Society was notified of the arrival of the intruders and went around distributing the information to the 13 Court Guard Squads. Commander Genryusai, upon hearing the news, did not want to take any risks. As a precaution, the commander sent Rukia Kuchiki to the human world to retrieve Ichigo Kurosaki. Though he hoped that the help wouldn't be needed.

In time, Luffy and his fracciones came out of the portal and surveyed the Soul Society. They were fascinated by the architecture and the pressures they were sensing. "So this is the Soul Society," Luffy said, "Just look at all the strong guys run around."

"Speaking of which, I think they spotted us," Brook said. "Do you think we should greet them?"

"Don't look now, but Luffy already went," Zoro informed. Luffy was already heading down to the floor ready to fight the foot soldiers of the Soul Society. The unranked members were drawing their swords and ready to fight. Luffy however took on every one of them with his bare hands, which started stretching. Luffy took out one soldier after another with an fighting style that revolved around his strange ability to stretch.

"He's hogging all the action!" Sanji yelled, "Fine, I know where this is going. I'm going out on my own, ok guys."

"Ok," everyone said in unison. Zoro started to head off in another direction, "I'm going to head off somewhere too. Just make sure at least one of you stays with the captain." To this everyone nodded and they all split off with Chopper going down with Luffy. Chopper switched to a taller, humanoid form and started fighting. Nami stayed behind as well to watch over Luffy. After a while the unranked members stopped attacking.

"What'll we do, they're too strong," someone said.

Then, two people walked through the crowd. "Get out of the way you useless pawns," said a strange looking shinigami with face paint and a pharaoh-type headdress. The shinigami soldiers' faces all lifted with relief.

"IT'S CAPTAIN KUROTSUCHI AND LIEUTENANT NEMU!!" they all yelled.

"Captain?" Luffy asked, "Did he say 'captain'?"

"My name is Mayuri Kurotsuchi, captain of the 12th division and head of the Research and Development division," Kurotsuchi introduced. "I must know, which one of you arrancars is of the Espada." Luffy's smile turned into a somber expression as he figured out that this captain is just like Szayel Aporro.

_Meanwhile…_

Sanji was looking at all the female shinigamis and trying to flirt with them. Obviously to no avail as they all just attacked him. Sanji was either hitting on the girls or fighting the male shinigamis. After awhile, a towering shinigami with a captain's haori appeared. What was striking about this shinigami was that he had a dog's head.

"Woah—Hello Fido," Sanji said, reacting to the shinigami's appearance.

"You'll do well to remember my name," the shinigami said, "It's Captain Sajin Komamura, of the 7th division."

"You know, something tells me you're overdue for a neutering."

Komamura began to unsheathe his sword, "Enough of your talk. You have trespassed into the sanctity of the Soul Society, it is therefore my duty to expunge you and your comrades from this world." After Komamura took out his sword, he immediately swung it across Sanji's torso, which he dodged. More strikes from Komamura and Sanji ensued as they exchanged strikes, with either Sanji dodging or parrying with his legs and kicking at Komamura. Conversely, Komamura was able to keep up with Sanji's strikes as well.

A brief break in the fighting allowed Komamura to ask a question. "Why haven't you drawn your sword yet?"

"I don't use my zanpakuto to fight," Sanji answered, "I'm first and foremost a chef. Therefore, I adhere to a strict set of rules. First, my blade is meant for crafting food only, and second, my hands are my most important tools."

"Why would an arrancar want to be a chef?" Komamura asked with a quizzical look.

"In Hueco Mundo there are these things called _televisiónes_, they are visual links that let the hollows see into the human world," Sanji began. "Hollows normally use these to prey on other souls or just kill time watching the humans in their daily lives with all their drama."

"Why would you do that? That's called 'eavesdropping'."

"It's always night there, it's hard to find chicks that don't want to devour you, and there's nothing to do in Hueco Mundo! What do you want from me!?" Sanji yelled. "Anyway, before I became an arrancar, I would always watch chefs at work. And it fascinated me to watch them work. I observed the restaurant chefs, TV chefs, and even the people at home. I would then practice and copy their techniques. And since then, I have developed my cooking ability to this extent and tried to protect my hands from damage."

Nothing more was said as they continued to fight.

_Back to Luffy and Kurotsuchi…_

Kurotsuchi was disappointed to hear that Luffy was the only official Espada among the intruders. But he was still intent on getting Luffy as a research specimen. As he pulled out his sword another shinigami showed, this one being bald.

"Ah man, Captain Kurotsuchi," cried out the new guy, "You beat me to him."

"Calm down you idiot, I'm working right now," Kurotsuchi hissed, "If you want to fight someone that badly there's another arrancar for you to fight right there."

"WELL ALRI—" the bald shinigami began until he noticed the reindeer-arrancar, "What the hell is that thing? A raccoon?"

"I'M A FREAKIN' REINDEER!!" cried Chopper.

The bald shinigami just looked around and noticed Nami just standing in the air. "Well, if it's a choice between you and the girl, I might as well fight you first. Let me introduce myself first as a courtesy, I'm Ikkaku Madarame, third seat of the eleventh division."

"Ok, if you're going to introduce yourself then I'll introduce myself as well. I'm Tony Tony Chopper, fraccion of the Quinta Espada, Monkey D. Luffy."

"Interesting name," Ikkaku said. As he drew his sword and took his stance, Chopper took out his sword. "Say, how do you hold that damn thing with hooves?" Ikkaku asked looking perplexed as to how the reindeer was holding the sword. Though the question was put to rest as Chopper changed into a taller, heavier-set form.

"Does this form look more challenging to you?" Chopper asked.

"What the hell is this?"

"It's a special ability of mine which I call _Ruidos_ (Rumbling). This form is called _Punto Pesado_ (Heavy Point)."

"Things are getting interesting now," Ikkaku said with glee. Ikkaku charged in as Chopper guarded with his zanpakuto. Ikkaku was using his duel sword style with both his sword and sheathe as he used one to guard and one to attack while Chopper was able to counter with his own blade and switching between his Heavy Point and his _Punto Salte_ (Jump Point) to avoid blows and to use the strength from Heavy Point. Eventually, Chopper proved to Ikkaku to be a proficient swordsman to release his zanpakuto. "_Extend_!" Ikkaku began, "_Hozukimaru_!"

Ikkaku's katana and sheathe turned into and naginata and he started striking at Chopper, to which he kept his guard up. "_Punto de Brazo_ (Arm Point)!" Chopper yelled which was followed by another transformation where Chopper's arms turn bulky. With his enhanced arm-strength, Chopper swing was so powerful that the air pressure cracked the building behind Ikkaku when he dodged.

Luffy himself was fighting Kurotsuchi not too far and was having trouble with getting close enough without getting poisoned. "You catch on quick," Kurotsuchi laughed, "Don't worry, the poison of my shikai isn't meant to kill you."

"Still, I've already dealt with this sort of thing before and I know all forms of poison need to be avoided," Luffy said, remembering the poison-using hollow that he fought. Luffy struck the ground to lift a giant piece of the ground and threw it at Kurotsuchi. Kurotsuchi immediately dodged and charged at Luffy with his Ashisogi Jizo. One cut and he could inject paralysis poison into him and make him an easier target.

"You seem to have phenomenal strength for having a slender body. I'll need to take a special note in examining your muscle structure."

_Elsewhere_…

Kenpachi caught wind of the invaders and was already on his way to find whoever he could fight. Unfortunately, he was following directions from his lieutenant, Yachiru. The two were facing a dead end when he started talking to Yachiru. "Alright, so where do we go now?"

Yachiru popped her up and started looking around. "I think we should go… THAT WAY!!" she yelled out, pointing to their right.

"Ok, are you absolutely sure?" Kenpachi asked.

"Of course I am," Yachiru said. Of course she wasn't, she pointed in the opposite direction of where Luffy, Chopper, Kurotsuchi, and Ikkaku were fighting. Which were only a few blocks away from Kenpachi's position. "Are you doubting me after all we've been through?"

"Actually, considering your track record of guiding, that's exactly what I should be doing," Kenpachi said, finally figuring out Yachiru is no GPS.

"Well if you think that way then you can try finding your own way!" Yachiru yelled and then stormed off in the other direction that she wasn't pointing towards.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm going home!"

Yachiru left in tears, leaving Kenpachi on his own. "Great, now I gotta come home to that."

Kenpachi lamented and left off on his own.

Back to Yachiru, unbeknownst to her, Yachiru was heading right towards Ikkaku and Chopper's fight. As she was jumping from roof to roof, she accidentally tripped slid right off the roof. Meanwhile, Chopper was parrying Ikkaku's attacks with his own sword. Eventually, Chopper accidentally left himself open for an attack, which Ikkaku took. The point of the naginata was about to stab Chopper until…

"_Proteja Punto_ (Guard Point)!" Chopper yelled. At that moment Chopper shrunk back to his original small form and then his hair grew out and blocked the blade. "Nice try, but nothing can get through my _Proteja Punto_." With that Chopper returned to his original form and put his hooves together.

"What are you doing now? It's going to be hard to fight me in that form," Ikkaku scoffed

"This form is called _Cerebro Punto_ (Brain Point), and its purpose is for me to examine either my patients or opponents with my _Envergadura_ (Scope)," Chopper said. A second later, Chopper smirked as he finished his scan and found Ikkaku's weak point. Unfortunately, Chopper wouldn't get the chance to use it because…

BOOM!!!

"Lieutenant!?" Ikkaku yelled.

Yachiru fell right on top of Chopper, sending up a huge dust storm. When it cleared, Yachiru was sitting on top of Chopper. "GET THE HELL OF ME!!" Chopper screamed from underneath Yachiru. Yachiru got off of Chopper and just started staring at him. "What are you looking at kid?" Chopper asked.

Yachiru started drooling as she hungrily said in a deranged voice "Venison!" and proceeded to biting Chopper. In seconds, Chopper was running around screaming "I'M NOT YOUR FREAKIN' FOOD! GET OFF OF ME!"

"Hey! Lieutenant Yachiru, I'm supposed to be fighting him!" Ikkaku yelled.

Nearby, Luffy was hearing Chopper's screams. "Ha ha ha! Hey Chopper, having trouble there?" Luffy asked, at the same time he dodged an attack from Kurotsuchi.

Chopper was just pointlessly running around in a frantic manner with Yachiru on her head. Chopper, in a desperate move, raised his sword. "Heal!"

Luffy's smile instantly turned into an ominous expression as he tried to yell out to Chopper. "Wait! Chopper! Not while you're that distraught!"

"_Reno_ (Reindeer)!" Chopper yelled. As soon as he yelled the name of his resurreccion an explosion of smoke appeared which catapulted Yachiru in the air. After Ikkaku caught Yachiru, they saw a giant figure in the smoke as it cleared. Chopper had turned into a giant, anthropomorphic reindeer monster. Chopper let out a thunderous roar as he started to attack Ikkaku and Yachiru.

"Crap! This isn't good!" Luffy yelled. Luffy started running over to Chopper, forgetting that he was still fighting Kurotsuchi who blocked his path. "Out of my way," Luffy warned. Chopper had no signs of intelligent conscious in his attacks and just rampaged in a mindless flurry.

"You seem to forget that you still have to finish your fight with me," Kurotsuchi reminded. Kurotsuchi looked at Luffy with a sadistic look and raised his sword in front of himself, "I'll just take care of you both at the same time! _Bankai_!" Kurotsuchi's trident blade grew to a massive baby with and halo, a caterpillar body, and a cape, "Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!"

Nami, feeling concerned for Chopper, ran down to Chopper to try to calm him down. "Chopper, stop! You need to calm down or you'll lose yourself—" Nami was cut short as she was swapped away by Chopper. Franky, who didn't run off very far and sensed Chopper's irregular spiritual pressure, came and helped Nami up.

"Franky? Where were you?" Nami dizzily asked.

"I was just a block away when I felt Chopper release his power," Franky responded. Ikkaku, with Yachiru asleep in his arms, appeared in a flash step in front of Franky and Nami.

"What's wrong with him? There's no thought in his attacks," Ikkaku said.

"Chopper just recently ascended to the level of adjuchas, he's inexperienced with his new powers," Franky responded.

Nami finished off the explanation, "And when Chopper released his powers while his mind was in a confused state, he didn't have the focused consciousness needed to suppress the myriad of hollows that make up a menos."

Luffy was pushed right beside Chopper and Kurotsuchi's bankai was headed right for him and the evolved Chopper. Chopper saw the bankai as a bigger threat then Luffy and ran relentlessly towards the bankai and held Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo back.

"That's a bad idea right there," the minute Kurotsuchi said that, the bankai breathed a huge blast of poison fog right in Chopper's face. Luffy and Nami screamed out Chopper's name while Chopper reeled back and start tossing and turning around until he started falling towards Nami, Franky, Ikkaku, and Yachiru. Suddenly, before Chopper could hit the ground, a tall figure which Ikkaku recognized as his captain's leapt into the air and hit Chopper out of the way.

"Captain Zaraki!" Ikkaku yelled, "What are you doing here?"

"I finally found some action, but I didn't even see you there until you spoke up."

"But why did you hit that thing out of the way?"

"I thought it was heading right for me."

"So you didn't do it to save us?" Ikkaku asked.

"No," Kenpachi responded.

"That's some captain you got there," Nami said.

Chopper lied on the ground motionless. Luffy was able to shake off Kurotsuchi and make it to Chopper's side. Chopper slightly moved his head but nothing more as the poison was working its way. Nami and Franky reached Luffy and Chopper.

Luffy had a sad look on his face, "You idiot, you still haven't completed your training. We should have left you back at Las Noches."

"Relax Luffy, we should focus on curing Chopper of the poison that's in his system," Nami said.

Chopper's head began to move in a way that was trying to signal Luffy to listen to him. Luffy looked at him and asked "Chopper? Have you come back to your senses?" Chopper was trying to say something but was too quiet, which prompted Luffy to lean closer. Chopper was giving, what sounded like to Nami, directions. Luffy turned to Nami, "Nami, where's Chopper's backpack?!"

Nami looked around and spotted it on the ground a few feet away and ran over to it. "Over here," Nami said.

"Take out the serums numbered—" Luffy began, when he leaned closer to hear Chopper he repeated the numbers, "46, 58, and 21!"

Nami took out those serums, which were in shot form and brought them over. Kurotsuchi was curious and just watched from his current place. Nami took one shot while Luffy and Franky took the other two and administered the serums by injecting it from the neck and Chopper's shoulders. The physical effects of the poison started to vanish.

Kurotsuchi was starting to feel enraged at the fact that his poison was countered, "Unbelievable! That arrancar deciphered the symptoms of the poison and administered the right treatment. What's more, he had those injections prepared in advanced! Who is that creature?!"

After Chopper was cured, he passed out while still in his resurreccion form. Luffy produced a cube of energy and put it in Chopper's hollow hole and the Caja Negacion took effect, but instead of disappearing completely the cube which contained Chopper remained.

Luffy tossed the cube over to Nami, "Take Chopper and get far away from here."

"What are you going to do?" Nami asked.

Luffy just adjusted his hat, "Swing."

To be continued… is that foreboding enough for ya?

Ichigo and the gang should come next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**La Sombrero de Paja Chpt 3**

_In memorium: Lacey the Border Collie (~1995-March 16, 2012)_

_By the time I've written this, my dog for more than 15 years died the night before St. Patrick's Day. We miss her very much and regret that we couldn't spend more time with her._

Luffy adjusted his hat and uttered a single word, "Swing", which was then followed by a single syllable of "Og-" before he was cut off by a Senkaimon opening right next to him. Confused, Luffy halted his resurreccion and stared into the gate as it opened to reveal an eruption of blue energy. Luffy used his sonido ability to evade the attack.

"What was that?" Luffy asked.

"Did I get him?" a deep voice asked. A man stepped out of the Senkaimon, one that was tall, tan, and had a black arm with a strange red pattern on and a horn on his shoulder. "I sensed the spiritual pressure of an arrancar but I don't think I got him."

"Hey! Don't go interrupting my fight!" Zaraki yelled.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked.

"My name is Sado Yasutora," said the man, "but you can also call me Chad."

Accompanying Chad was another shinigami with red hair. "And I'm Renji Abarai, lieutenant of the 6th division."

"Hey Renji," Ikkaku began, "where's Ichigo? I thought you were sent to retrieve him."

"Rukia thought it best to split up, as the intruders have, in order to find them all and detain them," Renji spoke. "Ichigo is with Rukia while Uryu and Orihime were brought here by Yoruichi."

Luffy appeared before Renji, "So that Ichigo guy's here? Where is he?" startling Renji with his speed.

"Who wants TO KNOW!" Renji screamed as he unleashed his zanpakto, Zabimaru, on instinct. But Luffy was able to get out of the way.

"I wanna know," Luffy stated, "Sort of the reason I came here in the first place."

"So what? You're not satisfied with me?" Renji yelled as he continued his attacked.

Luffy was attacked by Renji's barrage of attacks again and again with Luffy evading them every time. At one point he used a Cero to block an oncoming attack. At the same time, Kurotsuchi was steamed at the fact that Renji cut into his fight. "Damn it, Renji! Who said you could fight him. At this rate, with your powers, you'll just reduce the specimen to a useless pulp!" Captain Kurotsuchi yelled. The two shinigamis started fighting the Espada with Kurotsuchi holding no regard for Renji. Ashisogi Jizo let out a huge cloud of poison in the area, to which Renji moved as far away as he could.

"Again with the poison cloud?" Luffy said, "Okay, I'm already bored with you."

_Rewind time a little bit…_

A duo of Ussop and Robin were fighting what appeared to be a kid with white hair and a woman with the biggest "assets" you've ever seen. Ussop had his zanpakto, which was a regular sized, western broad-sword with strange, prong-like protrusion as the guard, at the ready while Robin hand her short-sword zanpakto drawn.

"Hey Robin, you take the woman," Ussop stated, "I'll take the little kid."

"And why do I have to take the woman?" Robin asked, even though she partially knew the answer.

"Well, you can't expect a warrior like myself to fight a woman, can you?" Ussop retorted with a puffed chest. "It's not that I want to fight a child or anything it's just out of the two I would feel less shame with the child."

At this, the "kid" with the white hair became irritated. "Just who do you think you're calling a kid?" he retorted as he charged at Ussop and pushed him back with his sword. "I am the captain of the 10th division, Toshiro Hitsugaya."

"WAIT, YOU'RE A CAPTAIN!" Ussop screamed. "Change of plans Robin, I suddenly feel like I would be more shamed if I were to fight a young child instead."

"I'M NOT A KID!" Hitsugaya screamed.

"Sorry, no take-backs," Robin responded, she then turned her head to address the woman, "So, what's your name?"

"Rangiku Matsumoto, lieutenant of the 10th division," the woman responded. "And I have to say, if _that_ is what we're to expect from you arrancars, you are in serious trouble."

"HA! Don't take me lightly lady!" Ussop suddenly said while trying to make himself look bigger again. "Tremble in fear cuz' you're in the presence of the Espada, the dreaded Ussop!"

"And what number Espada are you?" Captain Hitsugaya decided to ask.

"U-Uh… Please, what does my rank matter to you," Ussop shouted, "All you need to know is that the power I wield is enough to make Aizen tremble in fear."

Hitsugaya and Rangiku were obviously skeptical about that statement. This prompted Hitsugaya to say sarcastically "Interesting, then you must be high up among the Espada. Please do enlighten us on what rank you are."

Ussop began to panic as Hitsugaya was calling his bluff. "N-No I think I'll… um… spare you the mind-blowing realization of just how screwed you are."

"So can you at least tell us why you're trembling?" Rangiku asked.

At this Ussop panicked, he started shouting and desperately charging a Cero in his hand. "GRAAH, SHUT UP!" The Cero Ussop fired was a dark beige type of Cero and had a wide range.

Hitsugaya and Rangiku were barely able to dodge with elbow room to spare. But this caused them to split off. While Toshiro headed towards Ussop for a head-on attack, Rangiku was confronted by Robin.

Captain Hitsugaya's and Ussop's sword clashed, startling Ussop but he was able to retain enough composure to charge another Cero to fire. Only this one was different, it was weaker but faster, not unlike the Cero derived Bala, only it was even faster than that. The close range Cero fired from the tip of Ussop's finger causing Toshiro to back away. Unfortunately it was too fast and the captain had to put up his guard for impact.

"Was that a Bala?" Toshiro asked, Toshiro backed away far enough but was still scathed by the strange Cero. "No, it seemed too weak even by that technique's standards."

"Actually, it's more like—" Ussop was cut off by the feeling of an immense burst of spiritual pressure. "WHO IS THAT! THAT'S GOTTA BE ONE OF THE SCARIEST PRESSURES I'VE EVER FELT!"

"Oh that's just Captain Komamura," Hitsugaya responded. "In all the weirdness of dealing with you I guess I didn't notice it until now." Hitsugaya continued to survey the battle with Komamura and noticed what this spike meant. "He must have activated his bankai. Whoever his opponent is must be very overwhelming in order to push him that far."

"Yeah who could— !" Ussop was cut off as a new spike in spiritual pressure made him realize who Komamura was fighting. "Let me ask you something. This bankai thing, we've heard about it but only some of us have ever really seen one. What is it exactly?"

Hitsugaya grew confused at Ussop's sudden composure but indulged in his opponent's curiosities. "Well, simply put, the first form of our zanpakto is the shikai and is the initial manifestation of our spiritual pressure. But the bankai is the uninhibited release of our spiritual power in full force. It's much different from you arrancars sealing your original forms in your swords."

Ussop listened while curiously he felt another spike of energy from another direction, though this one was much more erratic and didn't last as long. "Ah great, Chopper's down. I wonder what happened to him."

"Chopper? Is that the name of the arrancar fighting Komamura?" Hitsugaya asked.

"No, Chopper is someone else entirely, but nevermind that. This Komamura guy, is he strong?"

"He definitely is, he'd have to be in order to achieve the rank of Captain of the 7th division," Hitsugaya continued. "As captain it is a requirement to achieve bankai in order to qualify, and that means both Komamura and I can use bankai."

"If this is the extent of this Komamura guy's power, than he's doomed," Ussop said.

"What do you-" as the young captain was about to ask, he suddenly felt Capt. Komamura's pressure drop.

"As a captain, maybe you'll appreciate this bit of info. I sort of lied about being an Espada." Ussop blatantly said.

Capt. Hitsugaya just had a blank expression on his face. "Really, what a shock," Hitsugaya said in a monotone fashion.

"I know, I'm sure you were already trembling in awe of my power and skill, but the strongest ones are actually three of our members," Ussop continued. "Our boss, Monkey D. Luffy, is the Espada of our group, but there are two members of our group that were offered the rank of an Espada only to decline."

At this, Capt. Hitsugaya widened his eyes at this information. "You mean to tell me that we're dealing with three Arrancars with power at least on par with an Espada?" To Capt. Hitsugaya, this meant that these three were at least high level adjuchas, possibly even vasto lordes.

Ussop stared at the direction of Komamura and Sanji's battle. "Including our boss Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji, those three make up the strongest members of our team."

_At the same time…_

Random soul reapers of the 7th division looked in awe at what they saw. The area was in complete chaos as everything around them was rubble and Capt. Sajin Komamura was flat on the ground in a tattered uniform and bruises. Sanji, meanwhile was re-sealing his ressureccion form after he was done. He re-lit his cigarette and used sonido to go elsewhere in search of more girls.

_Back to Ussop and Robin_

A portal opened letting through Uryuu Ishida and Orihime Inoue leapt out onto a nearby rooftop. "Who're you guys?" Ussop asked.

"Uryuu Ishida," Uryuu answered. "A Quincy." Immediately afterwards he conjured a bow and fired with every arrow pointed at Ussop.

Uryuu's bow was firing a frenzy of arrows as if it were rain but Ussop's running and dodging abilities were saving him from obliteration as he ran madly trying his best not to get hit. Ussop, now tired of running away, charged a Cero and fired toward the Quincy only the Cero wasn't a huge beam. The resulting Cero was more like a shotgun that spread and canceled out some of the arrows. Uryuu stopped as some of the Cero's shotgun blast was heading to his position.

"What was that?" Uryuu asked. "It seemed like a Cero, but it was unlike any I've ever seen. Is that the Bala technique I heard about from Urahara?"

Ussop smiled at the fact that he stumped Uryuu. "Not exactly, let demonstrate something," he then pointed his finger at Uryuu and charged another Cero and fired. Only this one fired in a thin stream.

Orihime figured something was coming and went to guard Uryuu. "Uryuu watch out!" her Santen Keshuun shield was put up in front of her and Uryuu, preparing for the worst. However the Cero stream punctured right through her shield, forcing Uryuu to grab Orihime and step away before it could do more damage.

"It's based on the same principle as Bala, but I am able to do more complex things with my Cero," Ussop began charging a Cero but did not fire it, instead he shaped it and molded it to his will to demonstrate his ability to freely manipulate the energy. "You see, I'm the only arrancar who can so freely manipulate a Cero to this degree. The one I used before to counter your arrows was a _Cero Escopeta_ (zero shotgun) and the one I just used is what I call a _Cero Perforador_ (zero piercer, as in armor piercer). SO TREMBLE BEFORE MY AWESOME POWER THAT CAN EVEN MAKE AIZEN TREMBLE IN HIS BOOTS! HAHAHAHA AHAHAH!"

A little ways away, Robin and Rangiku were fighting. Both were evenly matched and couldn't get any attack through. "You're really good," Rangiku said, "but you should really stop holding back."

"I will if you stop holding back," Robin responded.

"Was it that obvious?"

"Your captain said that a requirement for his position is to master bankai. With those standards in mind I doubt they would give someone the position of lieutenant without the ability to use shikai."

"Funny you should mention that," Rangiku said as she positioned her sword. "Growl, Haineko!" at this Rangiku's sword dissolved into dust and floated around her for a little bit. With a swipe of her hand the dust particles went towards Robin who put her guard up as the dust cloud pushed her into a building. At this point Rangiku made a slashing gesture with what remained of her sword and the dust cloud exploded.

Back at the fight between Ussop, Capt. Hitsugaya, and Uryuu, Ussop was firing multiple, tiny bullets of Ceros through both hands at his two opponents. To which Ussop called this technique _Cero Gatling_ (yes it's the same in both Spanish and English), all the while laughing boastfully. His celebration was cut short as he noticed that Capt. Hitsugaya was able to get close enough to make a strike. On instinct, Ussop charged the same close range Cero as before through the tip of his finger and it made Capt. Hitsugaya jump back.

"_Cero Pistola Paralizante_ (zero stun gun)" Ussop said.

"Damn," Capt. Hitsugaya said. The young captain landed next to Uryuu and was able to dodge that cero this time. "Watch out Uryuu, he's not that powerful, but what really makes him troublesome is his diverse array of attacks. He's covered in long range and short range combat."

"Yes but I noticed that he prefers to distance himself," Uryuu said. "So he must primarily be a long range specialist."

"I think that's more because he's a coward."

_Back with Robin and Rangiku_

Rangiku kept her guard up because she knew that last attack couldn't have killed her. And right on cue she felt a hand on her back and she instantly backed away. When she looked behind her there was nothing there and she felt the hand again and she jumped away again and the same process happened another time. Rangiku was completely on edge and she didn't know what was going on. And then she heard Robin's voice, "Getting kind of jumpy, aren't we?"

Rangiku turned around and there was Robin with very small bruises and cut. Much smaller then what Rangiku expect her attack to do. "What's going on here?"

To this, Robin responded by sprouting a third arm from the joint of her elbow and another arm from Rangiku's stomach that playfully waved to her. "You mean this?" Robin inquired.

Rangiku was startled and tried to cut the arm off which then just disintegrated into petals. "I've never seen an arrancar with this power."

"It's a power only I have," Robin said. "Not only do I have the best regeneration skills of the team, or Hueco Mundo for that matter, as you may have noticed, but I can also "regenerate" limbs on other things. Making them sprout like a tree."

"But how, you can't possibly just sprout limbs anywhere you please."

"Very perceptive. With the exception of my own body, I have to spread spores on anything I want to sprout my limbs on."

"I don't remember you doing any cultivating." Rangiku said.

"My body constantly releases microscopic spores constantly. So essentially, anywhere I go, so long as it's within my range, I can sprout my limbs. Which means…"

At this, hands started grabbing Rangiku and putting her into submission. "…Power, speed, they all mean nothing to me."

_To be continued…_

Author's notes

Sorry for the big psyche out about almost revealing Luffy's ressureccion. I know how much of a middle finger that is to the audience who have been waiting patiently for me, but I figured it was too early to reveal it.

I will definitely reveal more ressurecciones in the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

**La Sombrero de Paja 4**

_Prologue_

In the desolate and dark setting of Hueco Mundo, a figure walks the dusty path. The figure is of regular human size with long, unkempt hair and two prong-like horns on his head. His body was covered in white bone-like armor and bits of cloth around his waist with tribal art tattoos covering his body. What looks like tape was wrapped around his feet, legs, arms, and hands as the frayed ends dangled in the wind. His face was covered in a Hollow mask that resembled an ogre with a huge mandible with bottom fangs that framed a portion of his face and one of the eye-holes of the mask had a scar.

But what was most frightening was that this Hollow's presence was enough to choke some lesser Hollows unfortunate enough to cross his path. As he walked by them, the weaker Hollows began to disintegrate into nothingness. And so continues the endless cycle of loneliness for a Vasto Lorde.

At one point, however, the Vasto Lorde was walking past two Menos Hollows of greater stature than himself by comparison. One had the form of an ostrich except with a giant wing span and vestigial arms. The other had a very skull-like mask with two flaps on either side as if they're ears, a skinny torso, intricately long legs with an aviary-structure, and arms that had segmented armor on it as if wearing two sets of armor.

"What the hell, are you following me Zoro?!" the ostrich Hollow yelled, "I'm sick of looking at your ugly face. Endless miles of nothingness and I miraculously keep running into you!"

"You gonna do something about it asshole?" the skull-faced Hollow said. "I don't want to hear your grating voice anymore, so let's end this already." At this, the one called Zoro prepared for battle by splitting both his arms starting in the middle of his hands to make two arms, both of them afterwards reshaped to form hands with three fingers and a thumb. Then they finally noticed the Vasto Lorde that was just watching them from afar.

The ostrich Hollow, still too agitated to notice what it was, yelled out, "What are you looking at you midget."

The Hollow just stood there in silence for awhile as if something confused him. "I am here… yet nothing happened to either of you."

"There's something not right with this one Sanji," Zoro said. "He's just going to be a distraction for me. Let's kill 'im first then continue with our business."

"Fine, but I call dibs on devouring him."

"We'll see about that," the two Adjuchas Menos lunged at the smaller Hollow in order to destroy.

At the end of the battle, the two Adjuchas were on the ground, in pain, before the mighty Hollow, finally realizing their foolishness for not sensing what he actually was. The Vasto Lorde was largely unharmed with but a few scuffs here and there. The two Adjuchas' were beaten and battered, Sanji's wings were broken and his feathers were strewn around his body and his legs were bent in the wrong direction. Zoro's arms looked like they were just hanging in their sockets and his armor was cracking. But for the savage beating this Vasto Lorde gave them, he did not devour them or even partake of even a piece of them. They still remained whole as any Hollow is before they are unfortunate enough to have a piece of them devoured.

The Vasto Lorde just sat there with the other two, feeling content, until Sanji asked "Well… aren't you going to devour us… you are a Vasto Lorde," with a weak voice.

Zoro was breathing heavily, "I've never met a Vasto Lorde up till this point. I guess the stories are true about your veracity and strength… but I've also heard that they have an unending hunger."

"Which begs the question," Sanji began, "Why haven't you killed us yet?"

The Vasto Lorde smirked underneath his mask, "I just don't want to eat you, I want you guys to join my crew."

To this the two Adjuchas were confused. A Hollow was a lone being that don't usually come together in packs unless it was beneficial to their survival. So what did he need them for? Was it an ego thing? He proved well enough that he doesn't need anyone else to survive in Hueco Mundo.

"I've walked this place for a few centuries as a Vasto Lorde and everyone I've come into contact with perishes at my feet," the Vasto Lorde began. "And it's been lonely ever since. I would actually like to have someone to talk to again."

"I guess you Vasto Lorde aren't exactly the closest nit species out there, are you?" Sanji asked.

"Not exactly," the Vasto Lorde said, "Long ago I did meet another Vasto Lorde who was nice enough. Then I had a brother that was one, but that's in the past now."

Zoro didn't know what to think of him. He felt a general connection the Vasto Lorde that he didn't fully understand. "Hey, what's your name anyway?"

To this the Vasto Lorde replied, "The name's Luffy."

_End Prologue_

Back in the Soul Society, Luffy was looking for another fight. The fight with Captain Kurotsuchi ended when Luffy bypassed Ashisogi Jizo's poison and crushed the worm-like creature. As Ashisogi Jizo released the poison, Luffy used Sonido to jump to another building and charge a Cero to fire but the zanpakto turned while still breathing out a poison cloud that spread at a 90 degree angle. Luffy was seemingly caught but what Jizo saw was an afterimage meant to be a diversion which made Ashisogi Jizo stop emitting poison while he breathes in. This gave Luffy the opening to crush Ashisogi Jizo from above with a punch from above. Afterwards, Luffy went after Kurotsuchi himself who had his sword ready after his bankai was destroyed. A hand-to-sword fight ensued but with Kurotsuchi not the greatest swordsman, he was easily overpowered. At which point Kurotsuchi escaped by liquefying himself with his sword.

After that Luffy was roaming around as he lost track of Nami while fighting Kurotsuchi and plowed through shinigami grunts. "Ok, where did I leave Nami? I think I turned this way… so… maybe—no not there." Luffy was interrupted by a lightning strike which he easily dodged.

"Ok, who did that?" Luffy asked.

"Hadou 33," a voice began, "Shakkaho!"

Luffy instead decided to take the hit rather than dodge to try and flush out the person. He then noticed a young looking girl with black hair and a zanpakto around her waist. Suddenly, another shinigami showed up behind him carrying a huge cleaver in his hand. Needless to say, they didn't arrived on the most friendly of terms.

_Elsewhere_

Nami was dealing with both Renji and Chad alongside Franky. Franky's and Nami's zanpaktos were both drawn, Franky his brass-knuckle type zanpakto and Nami's bo-staff. While Renji's shikai was released and Chad had his fullbring activated.

"Why exactly did we come here again?" Nami asked. Truth is she had no beef against any of the shinigami and just came along for the ride. 

"Cuz our boss was bored," Franky said nonchalantly.

"Right," Nami responded.

"Hey, you mean to tell me this isn't an attack set by Aizen?" Renji asked, listening to their conversation.

Taken aback at the sudden outburst Nami responded, "No, we just work for him. We're not exactly one of his more loyal minions."

"Then what the hell is the point of this attack?!" Renji yelled.

"If I remember correctly," Franky began, "I heard something about Luffy having a personal grudge against someone but who was it."

"We can't afford to waste our time with this," Renji said. He then prepared to release his full power. "BANKAI!"

An explosion of smoke and reiatsu appeared which revealed a giant skeleton of a snake with red mane and Renji wearing what looked like a baboon pelt. "Hihio Zabimaru!"

At this site, Nami had a profound look of shock. "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?" Nami said.

Franky prepared himself for the worse as he noticed Chad's arm letting loose blue energy. "I'll take on the latino, I'll leave the red head to you."

"You're going to leave a poor defenseless girl to fight that!?"

"Yeah right, 'defenseless', a broken jaw you gave me a few centuries ago says otherwise. Now just release your full power and stop being a little girl."

Nami was particularly insulted by that last comment, "Except I am a girl! Fine, forget it."

Afterwards, Chad used the blue energy to propel himself toward Franky which took them away from Renji and Nami. Nami took her bo-staff and began to glow with power. "Storm through…" Nami began, and the bo-staff emitted an abundance of smoke, "_La Niña_" ("the girl" but referencing an oceanic-atmospheric phenomenon). Her Ressureccion began with the mist covering her and then turning into a twister.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, Sanji senses another spiritual pressure. "This pressure… Nami is releasing her Ressureccion, which must mean she's in trouble. BUT THAT ALSO MEAN I GET TO SEE NAMI IN HER RESSURECCION FORM!" Sanji then shamelessly started heading toward the direction of Nami. "WAIT FOR ME SWEET NAMI!"

The mist around Nami began to dissipate to show her revealing, true form. Her hair grew out longer and had cat ear protruding from her head. Instead of a jacket and skirt, she now wore a fur-like bikini that covered her bosom but didn't connect in the front but instead covered one breast then reached around her back to cover the other. What followed downward was an intricately designed pattern that led past her exposed navel and connected to her thong, the overall design of the pattern gave her a feral look. Alongside the pattern, what also gave off a feral look was a cat tail and fur on her hands and feet along with sharp claws.

Renji was dead-panned at the site of this shameless new form. "Well… I never had a problem fighting a woman… but this poses a different sort of problem for me."

Nami made the first move, jumping into the air and about to kick down on Renji. Her leg was surrounded by wind. "_Tempestad Ciclónica_ (Cyclone Tempest)." Renji used a segment of his bankai to block the kick which caused the ground to shatter.

"DAMMIT!" Renji yelled, straining himself just to stand his ground. It took a lot of Renji's strength but he was able to throw her off. "So your Hollow capabilities involve using wind?"

"You wish," Nami blew what looked like cold air into the sky and clouds began to form in the oncoming cold front that Nami caused. "I'll give you a hint, I'm predicting a heavy rainfall."

_Robin and Rangiku/Ussop, Hitsugaya, and Uryu_

Rangiku was in a strangle hold by arms that were coming out of her own body and Robin was about to come in for the kill. "I really expected more than this," Robin began as she took out a small broadsword and readied herself to strike. "Oh well."

"Don't think you've won yet," Rangiku said. Though her hands were tied she still held the hilt of her zanpakto with her shikai still active. Some of the dust got near Robin's face as Rangiku swiped her hilt to make a small cut. Small though it may have been, it was enough to distract her causing her disembodied arms on Rangiku to loosen enough for her to break free.

"I forgot your zanpakto was still active," Robin said.

Rangiku stood back up and used her Haineko to clear out the arms that were attached to her. "Your ability is pretty good. Being able to bind your opponent from a distance gives you a distinct advantage. However…" Rangiku's zanpakto was able to damage one the arms before it dissipated and Robin winced in pain, which Rangiku noticed. "First off, the strength of the limbs you create is still proportionate to your own, and second whatever pain is dealt to the limbs is transferred to you."

"Are you saying you're physically stronger than me? Our body builds don't look that different."

"There's a lot about me you don't know. And I intend to use the experience I gained from those secrets about me."

Meanwhile, Ussop has been having trouble with both Uryu and Hitsugaya. If Ussop wasn't dodging a bunch of arrows, he was evading shards of ice or running away from both at the same time. "WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! WHAT THE HELL? HOW AM I STUCK WITH BOTH OF YOU?! TWO AGAINST ONE ISN'T FAIR!"

"No, it isn't," Hitsugaya said, "but this isn't a sanctioned fight, this is war. And in war there is no fair or unfair, we do what we must to protect what we cherish."

Ussop finally found a break in the storm of projectiles to find a place to hide. When he thought he was clear, Hitsugaya showed up and used his zanpakto, Hyorinmaru, to freeze Ussop to death. Cornered, Ussop had no choice, "RAAGH! TAKE AIM, _ESCARABAJO_! (Beetle)"

An explosion issued forth but Hitsugaya's attack didn't stop. What came out of the smoke was a heavily armored Ussop with a huge dome on his back. His Hollow mask now had a big Heracles-beetle horn coming out of his head. "HA! Just try and penetrate my mighty shield," Ussop then pointed at the dome on his back, "This thing here is like the Thunder Dome only in reverse, nothing ever checks in. And while in my ressurecion form, my defenses are fortified to the absolute limit. So just try and—GYUH-HEY—"

Uryu just started shooting at Ussop just to shut him up and while his arrows didn't pierce Ussop just as he described, the force of the arrows still managed to push him. Hitsugaya just started to sic ice dragons on Ussop and what followed afterwards Hitsugaya and Uryuu bouncing Ussop around just because they didn't want to hear him talk anymore. "GYAH—WHAT THE—STOP ALREADY…DAH! I'M GETTING DIZZY!" Ussop kept yelling out.

_Luffy, Ichigo and Rukia_

Luffy noticed the orange hair on Ichigo and recognized him instantly. "So you're Ichigo guy Aizen keeps going on about right? Nice to meet ya!" Luffy said.

"Um…Ok, you too," Ichigo responded, "What exactly are you doing here?"

"Nothing really," Luffy said. "It's just that Hueco Mundo gets really stuffy and none of us have ever been to the Soul Society before."

"You're telling me this is all some vacation for you?!" Rukia shouted angrily.

Luffy took a look around at his surroundings for a moment. At one end, he sense Robin and Rangiku fighting with Robing using her powers to create a giant hand that swatted away a kido spell. Nearby, Ussop was fighting, or some would think that, with Hitsugaya and Uryuu. Elsewhere a giant storm cloud appeared in the area where Nami was fighting while Franky and Chad were grappling, almost equal in strength. Sanji was heading towards Nami's position until something interrupted him and Zoro and Brook were messing with the grunts.

"Huh… yeah I guess this is a bit much," Luffy said.

"You guess?!" Rukia said.

"Well, whatever, what's done is done. By the way, the name's Monkey D. Luffy, the Quinta Espada. So why don't you introduce yourself."

"Ichigo Kurosaki, Shinigami Representative."

"Rukia Kuchiki of the Thirteenth Division."

After Rukia introduced herself, Luffy smiling face turned into a scowl upon hearing who she was. "Did you say 'Kuchiki', as in the Kuchiki clan?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Rukia said. She noticed the intense glare in his eyes and readied herself for the worst. Unfortunately Luffy used Sonido to get right next to her, grab her by the collar, and pin her on a nearby wall, all while enroute.

"RUKIA!" Ichigo yelled.

"I need you to answer something for me," Luffy began. "Where is Sojun Kuchiki!"

To be continued…

A.N.

Thank you for waiting. God this one seemed long, how many words was this… 2,700! Well don't expect anything like this next time. Probably… Whatever.

Let's review

Tony Tony Chopper

**Resureccion**: Heal, _Reno_ (Reindeer)

**Special abilities**: Textbook-enhanced abilities such as strength and all that. In addition he can produce a number of different chemical compounds.

Nami

**Resureccion**: Storm through, _La Niña_ (the girl)

**Special abilities**: Ability to manipulate weather using her spiritual pressure to absorb heat or give off heat to make different pressures and fronts.

Ussop

**Resureccion**: Take aim, _Escarabajo_ (Beetle)

**Special abilities**: Thick armor that repels everything. His horn is also a focus for his powers to utilize offensive capabilities.

In case you're wondering, yes Luffy's original Hollow form is based on Oars and yes Zoro's original Hollow form is based on General Grievous.


End file.
